We all knew this day was coming, especially after the injuries that Sidney Rice has suffered during his tenure in Seattle, but it doesn’t make it any easier to stomach for fans.

Rice isn’t the only casualty either. Names like Zach Miller, Chris Clemons, Red Bryant and others have made their way onto the list of over priced, and expendable, players on this Seattle Seahawks football team.

This hurts for fans and players alike, especially the players who actually felt the camaraderie and family like environment that Pete Carroll brought to Seattle, but who’s time may be up with the club.

Nothing against these other players who may or may not be getting their pink slips, but this piece is to focus on Sidney Rice and his time spent with the Seahawks.

Rice in Seattle

While here in Seattle, Rice has only played one full season out of three that he was on contract for. So, it’s not really a brain buster that he will be one of the first to have his contract terminated.

Sidney Rice is all but gone from the Seahawks. (Photo: nflrush.com)

Rice always has the potential to be a big game receiver, and has shown glimpses of that here, but the fact that he can’t stay healthy makes this business move one of the best of the off-season.

While playing in 33 games for the Hawks, Rice had a combined 12 touchdowns, with his largest single season total coming in the 2012 season where he amassed seven.

As with other explosive receivers in this league, you either burn your defender, or you get burned. I’m not going to say that Rice got burned more often than he burnt defenders, but he clearly wasn’t used in the same capacity that the Minnesota Vikings used with him.

Rice was what you would call a “fantasy bust,” and more often than not, when you suck in fantasy, you also aren’t playing up to your potential on the real football field either.

And when high-priced talent isn’t producing high-priced numbers, the pathway to the exit door becomes a lot wider and more apparent than ever before.

Memories

This isn’t meant to be a bash on Rice piece at all, even though it may sound like it. Just like Brewer alluded to in his piece highlighted above, football is a business, and there are always casualties in this business.

My favorite memory of the Sidney Rice era had to be the TD he scored in Arizona on Thursday Night Football this past season.

I was in attendance at this game, and even though I was in the upped deck, the TD pass to Rice happened in the exact corner of the end zone I was sitting in.

The ability to get space, and evade receivers, especially on plays where Russell Wilson is scrambling, is what will be truly missed about Rice.

Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and Golden Tate all have the ability to make the spectacular plays, but Rice seemed to just know where to be on the football field.

Here is a video of the highlights from that game in Arizona, courtesy of YouTube.

On paper, the 2014 Seattle Mariners look to be a very deep team at the majority of the positions on the field, with the exception of the starting rotation.

How can a rotation that is book ended by Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, and James Paxton and Taijuan Walker be considered not deep you may ask?

All it takes is taking a look at that one spot in the middle that is missing to find your answer.

For the past two weeks the Mariners have been linked to two free agent starting pitchers, one of which came off the market Monday when the Baltimore Orioles signed Ubaldo Jimenez, leaving what most of us thought was only Ervin Santana left to be our savior.

But lo and behold, reports came out Tuesday that the M’s were in talks with another free agent pitcher; Chris Capuano. This surprise should have Mariners fans feeling a bit more optimistic for the upcoming year.

Here is a look at both Santana and Capuano side-by-side, plus my pros and cons with each potential signing.

Ervin Santana

Santana still sits unemployed. (Photo: halosdaily.com)

The Dominican born Santana had some very effective years in Los Angeles where he had a vital role with some really good Angels clubs.

Even though his best year professionally was six years ago, and he hasn’t registered a winning season since 2010, Santana would be a perfect fit in the three slot in the M’s rotation.

Only four times in his nine-year career has he failed to reach the golden plateau of 200 innings or more.

With the work horses of Felix and Kuma paired with the capability Santana going deep into ballgames three days in a row, the M’s bullpen, with all their question marks, would reap the benefits of this.

Santana is a lifetime 105-90, with an ERA of 4.19. Nothing spectacular by any means, but it sure beats what the M’s have ready and waiting to take over that third spot.

He did continue his decline in dominance last season once again going 9-10 in the win/loss department, he did register the best ERA of his career, 3.24, and was only eight strikeouts off his career average of 169 per year.

Once again, not the greatest numbers when looking to spend a lot of money on an aging pitcher who wants a multi-year contract, but I think he is worth the risk personally.

Bringing him in now will not only shore up the missing link to what could be a winning season finally, but also alleviates the pressure of Kuma rushing to come back prematurely as well.

Chis Capuano

Capuano is another nine-year vet looking to catch on with a team at the onset of Spring Training.

Right off the bat I’m throwing a con out there on this guy. He is a lifetime National League guy. He doesn’t know these ballparks or players nearly as well as Santana does, giving Santana the edge in my book.

Over his nine-year career, Capuano has a 73-83 record with a 4.27 ERA, with his best, and only winning, season coming back in 2005 in Milwaukee where he went 18-12 with a 3.99 ERA.

Spending time most recently with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he went 16-19 over two seasons where there was some pretty good offense to back him up.

That may, or may not be the case in Seattle. There are a lot of uncertainty’s here with all of the new faces that will be filling up the field and lineup card.

But, with that being said, Capuano couldn’t deliver in a warm weather stadium with an All-Star caliber lineup behind him, what makes any of us think he will be able to do any better in the damp, dank air of Seattle?

In my opinion, taking a chance on Capuano will be no better than giving Brandon Maurer, Erasmo Ramirez or Blake Beavan the ball every 5th day.

It’s Ervin Santana or bust for me. Let’s hope the M’s see things the same way I do.

“Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” is a classic country music lyric sung by the great Willie Nelson.

This also could be the song one could hear coming from the respective offices of both Pete Carroll and John Schneider as the team gets ready for Championship Offseason number two.

A lot can be said that the NFL hasn’t seen a repeat championship team in over ten years, but the league also hasn’t seen a team this talented since the early days of the New England Patriots dynasty either.

The Super Bowl party was a blast, as the 700,000 plus in attendance at the parade can attest. But, as the song lyrics allude, it’s time to get to work on bringing a second Lombardi Trophy to the great city of Seattle.

Here are my five things that I think need to be done to make sure the Seahawksaren’t like so many other teams in the past that can’t seem to get it done the following year.

5: A cure for the hangover

“The road goes on forever and the party never ends,” is another fitting country music lyric for this particular offseason. These words sung by Robert Earl Keen should be taken literal.

As we know from past experiences when a team wins the Super Bowl, the party sometimes doesn’t end. Players lose their normal offseason rituals, the offseason is in fact shorter, and the celebrity status that comes with winning a Super Bowl can make a players already inflated ego inflate even more.

Besides the obvious need to trim some salaries, re-sign key free agents and draft as well as PC/JS have done in the past, this is the one key step that will be out of the coaches and front office’s hands. This lies solely on the players themselves.

In other words, starting now, every player on this team will need to get back to focusing on winning a championship, just like they did last year.

4: Is this Costco?

Michael Bennett says he wants to stay, but for a price. (Photo: msn.foxsports,com)

A week after Seahawks DE Michael Bennett said something along the lines that he was a Seahawk and he wanted to finish his career in Seattle, is changing his tune, a little.

His Costco rant, that surfaced in the media on Wednesday, came as a surprise to a lot of fans, myself included, especially after he was so exited to stay and win another Super Bowl.

Michael Bennett and Golden Tate appear to be at two opposite ends of the in-house free agent spectrum for PC/JS. Tate announced just days after the Super Bowl that he would take a home-town discount to stay in Seattle for the opportunity to win more championships.

We’ve all heard the cliché that football is a business, and it’s true, it’s a cut-throat business that has no roots in loyalty or fan empathy. Players want to get paid, owners want to make money, and it’s often the fans that get left in the dust.

My biggest question to Bennett is, you know what losing is like coming from Tampa, why would you take more money to end up in a place like that again that has no serious shot at winning?

A question I often find myself asking during the free agency period of all major sports offseason’s.

Situations like these are dynasty killers. If the player in question needs to go, cut the losses and let them walk. They obviously aren’t here for the team, they’re here for themselves.

3: Shore up some money

With the Michael Bennett debacle comes another question of faith for PC/JS. There are a few players who are making a bit more than they should be, but are nonetheless important pieces to this teams continuing success. Namely Chris Clemons and Zach Miller.

If the Hawks do decide to bring back Bennett for an amount that will be higher than they had hoped, it will be sayonara to Clemons most likely.

If Bennett walks, there could be no change to Clemons contract, but we don’t know what is going to happen just yet. Clemons did have an off-year in the sacks department, but his ability to pressure the QB is something that will be hard to let go of. Restructuring his deal will be key no matter what happens with Bennett.

Same thing with Zach Miller. Miller is, in my opinion, a vital part of this offense. More so than a lot of media will like to admit to. Some call him an over-priced blocker who isn’t used enough in the offense, but I strongly disagree with that notion.

Yes, he is way over paid, and management will need to do something about that. Miller, just like Clemons, is too vital to this team to simply just let walk away.

If both players agree to restructure, then the Hawks are on their way to becoming the Patriots of this decade.

2: Bring back key players

This will be bigger than making a splash on the free agency market. Of course the above mentioned Tate and Bennett are a must in terms of explosive players who’ve made an impact with this club in the championship year, but there are other must’s too.

Micheal Robinson is as big of a free agent the Hawks have this year. We saw what happened when he was cut earlier this past year, and the difference he brought to the team when he was added to the roster again late in the year. Mack Strong comes to mind when I think of the importance of Robinson with the Seahawks.

Besides Robinson, there are a few other offensive players who the Hawks need to resign. Breno Giacomini, even though he cost the Hawks a few big plays late in the year with his holding mishaps, Giacomini is a huge part of the O-line that struggled to stay healthy last year.

Doug Baldwin will be a bright spot for the future of this team if he is re-signed, which I also think is a must since Sidney Rice is all but gone. If the Hawks can’t sign both Baldwin and Tate, there could be some serious problems on offense next year.

And then there is Tarvaris Jackson. Once again, a player that got cut previously by this team, only to be brought back. Jackson understands what Carroll wants from this team, and is more than an above average back-up to Russell Wilson.

These players are must’s for the PC/JS regime. Sorry, don’t have enough space for the defensive players in this piece.

1: Keep doing what you’re doing Pete

First and foremost Pete Carroll needs to keep this place a fun, but winning, atmosphere that players want to play in, and return to.

Carroll and the Seahawks have everything in the makings to become the next great dynasty in the NFL, but it will take an army of talent, toughness and camaraderie to get back to the big game.

Letting their foot off the gas pedal, even for a moment, will derail the hopes and dreams of all the 12’s everywhere who dream of a repeat next season.

It still hadn’t really set in until the parade today. Well not even during the parade. The moment it seemed real was when Russell Wilson came out onto the field carrying the, strike that, our Vince Lombardi trophy.

With Marshawn Lynch meeting him, and spraying him, with his bottle of champagne, it was cemented into my mind for ever.

My Seahawks love affair

I can’t really select the defining moment of when I fell in love with this football team, but I’m sure it came before I attended my first game, which came in the 1985 season against the Los Angeles Rams.

That was the first year my family had our season tickets, and I was seven years old. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, I am old.

The Seahawks brought my family together in a bond that still sticks to this day.

The Seahawks brought my family together in a bond that still sticks to this day. Three generations of Bell family members are diehard fans, and will remain so until the day we die.

Now that we live in separate parts of the country, it is hard to get together to watch games, of course.

This year I did get to watch a game with my father and my sister, even though it was on my phone, it was still a pretty cool moment.

Though I really wish I could’ve watched the Super Bowl with my grandfather, being the only Seahawks fan at a predominantly Broncos friendly SB party had its advantages.

Moving ahead

I moved to Arizona in 1998, and though it was tough for a lot of years to find a place to watch my Seahawks on TV, I still followed them to the best of my ability.

The internet made not living in Washington not a problem for being a Seattle fan. With the move to the NFC West, I was assured at least two games to be televised down here each year, and the newspaper and net covered the rest of the stuff I needed to fill my fix.

Living three hours away from Phoenix, and working at a place where weekends were a must didn’t make it too easy to attend the Hawks annual trip to the desert.

Then came my birthday in the year 2000, my 22nd again for you math people. That was the day the theater of my youth was demolished (Kingdome).

I felt a piece of me disappear that day, and even though the Mariners and Seahawks had new homes, it just seemed like things would never be the same again.

And then came the wins. It honestly made the past seem so far away, or at least the suffering us Hawks fans have had to endure.

Mike Holmgren seemed to be the savior we all had dreamed of, and he was. NFC West Championships, a NFC Championship and a Super Bowl appearance. Though I won’t bring that up in this piece.

It seemed like it wouldn’t be long until we had a trophy of our own to display at the lovely new confines of Qwest Field.

I too, played hooky from school today to watch the first major sports championship parade

Pent up aggression gets released, finally

After last season’s crushing defeat to the Atlanta Falcons, the Championship Offseason mantra was released to the public.

We all took it in. Tweeted it, Facebooked it and some of us may have overused it here on nwsportsbeat.com.

With a perfect preseason, my hopes for a Super Bowl trip were riding pretty high. I found a group down here called the Arizona Seahawkers, and attended two of their functions, as well as going to my fist Seahawks game in 23 years.

It had all the makes of a special season. And then when Richard Sherman got his fingers on the ball in the end zone at the end of the NFC Championship game, I knew this Super Bowl was ours.

There couldn’t have been a better team to win our fist Super Bowl against either in my opinion. For all of you old enough to remember how much John Elway and his Broncos used to embarrass us, this was payback in the best way possible.

The second that ball whizzed past Peyton Manning’s head en route to the end zone, I knew once and for all that this was our year, finally.

As the people around me at the SB party lost interest by the second quarter, I still sat at the edge of the couch as if the game was tied in the fourth quarter.

My phone was ringing, people were texted me and I even had a few emails. All of which got ignored until halftime, or the final whistle.

No one was going to take those 60 minutes of football away from me.

And as we go full circle back to the parade this afternoon, the same thing was going through my mind. School be damned, no one was going to take this moment away from me.

The scene was set almost two weeks ago, but for many, this matchup was destined to happen before the kickoff of that first pre-season game so many months ago.

The Seahawks took it to the Broncos that day, even though it was only an exhibition game, our top ranked defense did some damage to the Broncos first unit, including Mr. Peyton Manning himself.

Now some 4 months later, the Seahawks faithful want to finish the job that neither John Fox nor Pete Carroll would allow to happen in a pre-season game.

Game note/How they match up

High powered offense vs. punishing defense. Peyton Manning against the Legion of Boom. That is the story line being played out by multiple news outlets, but I think there is a lot more than the offense vs. defense plot.

Namely, how will Carroll utilize Percy Harvin? Will Russell Wilson be able to shake off his recent slump? Can Marshawn Lynch burst through the Broncos front line and rattle off another 100 yard game?

But more importantly, will the Seahawks linebackers allow Manning to slant them to death with those 5-6 yard precision passes that he uses to slaughter defenses?

Just questions at this point in time, but I think these are going to be the keys to a Seahawks victory.

What to watch: Seattle

The stage has been set for the biggest game of our lives. (Photo: Yahoo! sports)

With a flip of the ball Richard Sherman became the Super Bowl’s villain, which is kind of nice since now we don’t need ESPN to make up any drama for the game.

But, ultimately, this is what to watch for in this game: How Richard Sherman backs up his huge performance in the NFC Title game.

Denver has the superior receivers by far, and Sherman can only cover one at a time, so the question is, will Manning tempt fate the same way Colin Kaepernick did?

Of course Sherman has some help from the rest of the LOB too.

What to watch: Denver

Much of the same as the previous statement, but really if Denver is going to win, they will need to get some movement out of the backfield.

A move that hasn’t proven to be too easy this year for teams facing the menacing Seahawks front line.

But this ultimately will be a battle between Peyton Manning and the Seahawks secondary.

Beast Mode does his talking on the field. (Photo: komonews.com)

Seattle O vs. Denver D

This is where the Hawks need to deliver. The Denver defense is good, but they aren’t San Francisco good, or Carolina good or even Arizona good.

All teams that the Seahawks beat this year using their tried and true philosophy: Get the ball into the hands of Marshawn Lynch.

Russell Wilson is going to have to do a better job of completing his passes on third downs too, 3 and outs have been the Achilles heel of this team for the better part of two months now.

With the addition of Percy Harvin back in the lineup, this should open up some options for Wilson, but I honestly think that the Hawks need to employ the talents of both Zach Miller and Luke Willson often in this game.

Denver O vs. Seattle D

No more broken record talk about Manning vs. the LOB.

The man who needs to step up the most this game will be Bobby Wagner. Not saying that he hasn’t all year, but he is the heart and soul of the middle of this defense.

Manning likes to hit slant passes, no secret here. Wagner will have to be a force in the middle so there won’t be as many open lanes for Manning and Wes Welker to hook up on.

And then there is the pass rush. Manning hasn’t been sacked a single time this post season! That is just crazy. The front 4 will need to get to him early, and often. Disrupt his timing, and knock him on his butt, all day long.

Prediction

Denver is the favorite at the time of this article by 2.5 points. But, it is common knowledge that Peyton Manning is under .500 as a starter in games that have a kickoff temperature of below 40 degrees.

The kickoff temperature according to multiple sources on Wednesday state that the kickoff temp will be right around 36 degrees, with gusts of wind up to 20 MPH.

I’ve been saying for the past week and a half that the weather will play a huge role in this game, and with a cold and windy night in New Jersey on the horizon, this plays into the hands of the Seahawks.

The comebacks this year are nice, but this team should be blowing teams like the Texans, Rams and Buccaneers out of the water, not barely hanging on for a win, or coming back by more points than we would like to.

This is character building at its best. And it’s probably helping the business of local Cardiologists too.

The past two weeks have been really tough to watch.

Not only have they been tough to watch, but they are showing that the Seahawks may not be the Super Bowl contender they once claimed to be.

Sidney Rice is out, not that this will make the offensive line worse, or the secondary susceptible to a rookie QB throwing widely on them, or Jermaine Kearse coughing up a ball on a kick return, but it sure feels nice to blame this on something.

Kearse did end up redeeming himself, but something needs to give here pretty quick. We head into Atlanta on Sunday in a re-match of last year’s heart-breaking playoff loss. If we don’t start fast, and keep our knee to their throat, a let-down could be in the works.

I know this is later in the week than usual, but finally, I bring you my top 10!

10: Heart attack

And we thought last week was bad.

9: Historical comeback

Despite looking like absolute dog excrement, the Seahawks did manage to pull off the biggest comeback in franchise history on Sunday.

But really how did we allow ourselves to fall behind so badly against the winless Bucs? The Kearse fumble surely didn’t help matters, but the Bucs found open receivers on just about every drop back.

Plus there were plenty of big holes that were found by the Bucs too. And what the hell was that jump shot TD pass all about?

8: Tale of two halves

Another tough comeback for the Seahawks. (Photo: nflrush.com)

The first half of the game belonged to the Bucs for sure, but the Hawks found a bit of momentum by scoring a TD before the break.

The defense finally decided to join the rest of the team in the second half, only allowing a FG, but I think the defining moment of this game was the huge return by Golden Tate. That put the momentum back in our favor for good.

7: I hope this was just the Hawks scary Halloween costume

Halloween week is meant to be fun for all. Scaring the living daylights out of your friends and enemies in the spirit of the holiday.

I hope to God that this was one of Pete Carroll’s sick jokes, starting with the Monday game before Halloween and ending on Sunday’s game, and that he was just trying to scare us fans in the name of Halloween.

6: Return of the phantom calls

This was the only thing that kept me from pinching myself thinking I was having a nightmare; the PI call on Earl Thomas.

It just isn’t a Seahawks game without the refs trying to get in on keeping us down.

5: Retribution for Kearse

Jermaine Kearse must’ve felt awful after his huge fumble in the first half. But he did make it up to not only his teammates, but to the 12th Man all throughout the world with his second half TD.

This kid is still young, and we will have to suffer through some of the boneheaded plays that come with youngsters in this league, but I think this kid has a hell of a future with this team.

4: Wilson takes over…again

Marshawn Lynch was huge in wearing down the Bucs D line. (Photo: bleacherreport.com)

In all but one game this year, we have been able to count on Russell Wilson to win the game for us when it matters most.

Sunday was no different. It helped this time that we had a ground game to speak of too, but Wilson just keeps getting up stronger after every knockdown this year.

I would hate to think of what this team’s record would look like if Wilson were not under center.

3: Hauschka for the win

Even more so than Wilson, Steven Hauschka has been automatic when called upon this year. It’s always dangerous when you call on the kicker to win the game, but Hauschka has to be the best in the league this season.

2: We play the game for 60 minutes (and sometimes more)

Sunday was another example of why football games are played for 60 minutes. Maybe the Bucs went soft, thinking they had this thing wrapped up. But they had to have seen tape of the Houston game right?

Regardless, Russell Wilson led the charge brought our Seahawks back for the win.

1: Gearing up for payback

This upcoming matchup should be an emotional one for everyone on this team, but even more so the defense and the Legion of Boom.

They were the unit that let the playoff win slip away last year, which would have led to an NFC Championship matchup with the hated San Francisco 49ers.

This game needs to be won, not only to keep the streak alive, but for the boys on D who want some redemption.

On Monday it was announced that the Seattle Mariners had narrowed down their managerial search to four candidates. On Tuesday, their search came to an end as the M’s named former Detroit Tigers hitting coach Lloyd McClendon as the new bench boss.

This isn’t quite as exciting as an 8-1 Seahawks start, but it really should be!

The Mariners are in some dire need of a man to actually take over this franchise, and one with a winning attitude too. You don’t simply spend the past seven years under Jim Leyland without learning a few tricks from the master himself.

Not only does he come with a couple of World Series appearances under his belt, but he also has some actual managerial experience, unlike the rest of the guys who ended up interviewing well with the brass.

I mentioned fire in the headline, and this is what McClendon will bring to this team. It’s about time too, because the past several M’s managers have lacked this for sure.

We start with Eric Wedge, then move on to Mike Hargrove.

Then there was the second coming of the Zen master Don Wakamatsu, and his mentor Bob Melvin. I think the only manager with a little bit of passion under his seat was Jim Riggleman, but his tenure was so short it shouldn’t even garner a mention here.

Needless to say, the M’s have been without a true leader since the great “Sweet” Lou Piniella left town. And yes, the M’s did try to lull him back a la the Packers and Brett Favre.

So I have come up with the five biggest things that McClendon will have to do to try to turn this thing around once and for all for the Seattle Mariners organization.

M’s new skipper Lloyd McClendon

1: Own this team

This seems to be a problem that a lot of managers that float into Seattle deal with.

McClendon needs to first and foremost not think of this a temp job, but a job that will not only win over the hearts of the fans in the pacific northwest if he succeeds, but will go down in history and lore of this baseball clubs tragic and troubling past.

Some of the past hires were set up to fail, and they surely couldn’t think that they had a serious chance of succeeding here, but this really could be just what the doctor ordered for this club: A leader who will rule with an iron fist.

2: Tame the youngsters

When the Kansas City Royals were threatening late into the season this past year, you knew things were afoul in Seattle.

Are we now the fans of a team that would rather sit back and reap the benefits of being a losing team? What good do high draft picks do when they get dealt at the deadline, or underperform because they are rushed up?

Well, we saw what good they did last year, and besides the few bright spots (KyleSeager, James Paxton and Taijuan Walker) the rest looked like they were lost, even in their second and third years.

This really should be #1 on the priority list, and probably is to a lot of you, but if there’s no ownership at the helm then McClendon loses just like his past five predecessors.

3: Make the drastic moves

Jack Z can’t seem to get one of these right, and the owners want to blow their whole load on one player, so it will have to be up to McClendon to plead, pry, scratch and whatever else it takes to get the players in here that will win us some ballgames.

If that means bundling a couple of players together to make an offseason splash, then so be it. If that means trying to pry open the wallets of the owners, then so be it.

Just get it done!

4: Determine who is untouchable

This kind of eludes to the above mentioned #3, but honestly, this has to be one of his top priorities as well. Determine right now who stays for certain, who goes for certain and who is available for the right price.

If this is going to be his team through and through, then Jack Z needs to get on the same page as him immediately and determine what they are going to do this offseason so we have Lloyd McClendon’s team in place on opening day.

5: Win. Please?

What McClendon needs to do more than anything else really is win. Not five years from now, but now. This year.

The Angels are a team in decline, and the Astros will only be the doormat for so long, now really is the time to start making a move up the AL West standings.

Plus, we really are due for a winning season in Seattle. The past 12 seasons have not been the most pleasurable.

Welcome aboard Lloyd, all you have to do is win and one day we will regard your name as dearly as we regard Lou Piniella and Dave Niehaus’.

The cliché is, “good teams find team finds ways to win close games,” but unfortunately I think the Rams lost this game more than the Seahawks won it.

Who in their right mind would want to challenge the best secondary in the NFL on the game winning play?

It’s a good thing we have the winless Buccaneers next week, we can use this game as a starting point to correct whatever is happening with the offensive line, because it really was down right offensive to watch.

A winless team coming in to CenturyLink field is exactly what we need after being outplayed and embarrassed on national TV.

With that, I bring you my top 10!

10: Tauntingly stupid

On what was definitely the brightest spot offensively for the Seahawks on Monday night, Golden Tate went up and grabbed a ball he had no business catching, and took it all the way to the house.

Sounds pretty nice right? The problem is the hand gestures that Tate felt the need to use en route to the promised land.

He got drilled for it on the field, and we’re lucky he didn’t get injured crashing into the wall, and he got a mouthful from Pete Carroll too. A great play by a great athlete, but it was a dumb mistake by a player who was fired up.

9: Too close for comfort

We got the win and are now 7-1 on the year, but that game was a little too close for the likes of me.

For some reason these Rams seem to have our number, us and the 49ers too for that matter. Divisional games are normally heated with emotions, and the Rams D sure showed up for the national crowd.

We were very lucky to escape from the Lou with minimal losses (Sidney Rice) and a QB that can still stand upright.

8: Under pressure

Golden Tate had the play of the game. (Photo: usatoday.com)

If you thought the Cardinals got to Wilson a lot last week, take a look at last nights game footage. Russell Wilson was under constant pressure with every drop back.

Not only was the passing game under attack, the Rams were in the backfield to stop just about every running chance by Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin and Michael Robinson too.

It was a very long day for the O, and punter Jon Ryan probably has a sore leg today.

7: D line busted

If it wasn’t bad enough that our O line couldn’t protect our stars, the D line seemed to be just as bad. The Rams did whatever they wanted on the ground to the Hawks all game long, except when it counted.

This is what I eluded to above; why, if you have dominated a defensive line for 59:56, would you not commit to the run to win a ball game. I’m glad they didn’t, but somebody in the Rams front office has got to be questioning that play call today.

6: Bruuuuuuce

Add another talent to the ever-impressive second year man Bruce Irvin. Last week he played some great D in coverage against the Cardinals, this week, an interception.

Look out, there may be another member added to the Legion of Boom!

5: Rice out for year

Sidney Rice left the game with an unknown injury, at the time. Today it was confirmed that Rice tore his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season.

Hopefully this will open up some opportunities for Doug Baldwin to get back on the right side of things with this offense.

Don’t get me wrong, this will hurt this offense, a bit. Rice really never developed into what he was in Minnesota with the Hawks, and the addition of Percy Harvin will help us get over this loss pretty quick I think.

4: Traveling 12’s

Wilson had difficulty getting anything going. (Photo: news.yahoo.com)

For the second time in as many weeks the Seahawks played on national television, and for the second straight week the 12th Man made their presence known.

Even if we didn’t show how dangerous we are on the field, we did get to show the nation just why we are the most feared fans to play in front of.

3: Huge last stand

Bad play calling or not, the Seahawks defense stood their ground and got the win.

This was the most grueling position this unit has had to face this year, and with that last goal line stand they will be pumped up heading into next weeks game.

2: Will Harvin play?

Speaking of next week, will we finally get our first chance to see this seasons prized acquisition?

With two full weeks of practices under his belt, this will be as good of a chance as any, and with the Hawks down a man in the WR department, the timing couldn’t be better for Percy Harvin to make his Hawks debut.

1: Did we show our mettle, or our weakness?

Now with the question that everybody has been asking since last night, is our weakness completely out in the open now?

For the past few weeks opposing teams have shown that to contain Russell Wilson you need to pack the box and bring the pressure.

The Rams did this the best so far, and hopefully it is an issue that will be addressed and fixed before next Sunday. A loss against the Buccaneers would be rather embarrassing in front of our home crowd.

]]>http://www.nwsportsbeat.com/seahawks/moments-in-time-seattle-week-that-was-291013/feed/0Moments in time…The Seattle Seahawks week that washttp://www.nwsportsbeat.com/seahawks/moments-in-time-seattle-week-that-was-211013/
http://www.nwsportsbeat.com/seahawks/moments-in-time-seattle-week-that-was-211013/#respondTue, 22 Oct 2013 19:50:06 +0000http://www.nwsportsbeat.com/?p=68080Hawks in the Valley of the Sun

The 12th man was out in full force for the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Seahawks and Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona.

From my count, there had to be nearly 20,000 Seahawks fans in attendance.

In my section alone, the blue shirts out numbered the red shirts about 2-1, and we were a lot louder too. It was like being at home while being on the road.

And in the third quarter when all of the faithful Bird Gang left, it was like having the whole stadium to ourselves.

With that note, let’s get to the top 10!

10: He-could-go-all-the…

Brandon Browner did everything right when he intercepted Carson Palmer, except put one foot in front of the other.

With a clear path to the end zone for a pick-6, Browner tripped on his own feet about five yards from the goal line.

9: Under pressure

Known for being able to get out of pressure in the pocket, Russell Wilson found himself in a strange place Thursday night, under a pile of defenders.

The Cardinals not only supplied pressure to Wilson for pretty much the entire game, but they were able to knock the ball out of his hands too.

But on two of his scrambles out of the pocket he made his best two passing plays of the year, one of which may be the play of the season this year.

8: Welcome back Zach

Despite being under constant pressure, Wilson was masterful. (Photo: Columbian.com)

After seeing that Zach Miller was going to be active for the game Thursday, I immediately texted my friend and told him how huge this was for the Hawks on the road.

Miller is a player that needs to be on the field for this offense to work, and boy he made his presence known early and often, catching a TD pass and also being the recipient of the above mentioned amazing pass by Russell Wilson.

7: 12th Man unite

As I mentioned above, the 12th Man was loud and proud on Thursday night. There wasn’t a section in the stadium that wasn’t overfilled with blue shirts or 12th Man flags.

And boy did we bring our voices too. It was loud in the stadium, and I was told if was apparent who the fans favorite team was on the TV as well.

Way to be fans, this is why we are the best fans in the entire league.

6: Non calls

As per usual, the Seahawks were on the wrong end of some questionable calls, and were left shaking their heads on other plays that should have been flagged.

I’ve been known to believe in a conspiracy theory or two in my day, and don’t really want to go there again with this team, but it sure seems funny how we, like clockwork, will get screwed at least three times a game by the Zebras.

5: Palmer must’ve been having flashbacks

With his old college coach on the sidelines for the Seahawks, the Cardinals QB must’ve thought he was back in sunny LA, because he sure threw a lot of balls in the direction of the Seahawks defenders.

Palmer had, for the 7th straight week, two interceptions. I guess the good news is he isn’t regularly having them go for six, and he got a bit lucky with Browner’s happy feet incident.

4: A Golden leap

This was by far the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life. (Photo: news.yahoo.com)

Something that we all had been waiting for all season happened on Thursday night; a punt return for a TD.

I think that Golden Tate had been working on what he would do when the moment finally came, and he didn’t disappoint. He dove with the style and grace of an Orca Whale out in Puget Sound.

The only bad thing was that the play was negated on a penalty. But at least now we know what will happen when Tate gets another shot at it.

3: Sack attack

The Seahawks D looked as ferocious as I’ve seen them in a while Thursday night, regularly getting in the Cardinals backfield disrupting Palmer’s timing, and the rushing game.

But more importantly, they recorded seven sacks on the day. This is what will get this team deep into the playoffs this year.

The secondary is one thing, everybody already fears the Legion of Boom, but if we can get the D-line back to being the beast that they are, teams will try to start pulling a Grambling State when they see us on their schedule.

2: Fitz lays out Sherman

Only because he is such a class act will I give props to an opposing player for laying out one of our own. Larry Fitzgerald did his best Golden Tate impersonation in completely laying out Richard Sherman.

I mean this hit was felt all the way up in section 404!

But the best thing about both of these guys is they’re competitors until the end, and they both enjoy a good play. Sherm immediately got up and gave Fitz a big hug, congratulating him on the tenacity of the hit.

1: TD Seahawks

For the first time all season long, the Hawks scored a TD on their first offensive possession of the game. And this wasn’t just another TD.

With Wilson scrambling for his life I think everybody in the building thought he was going to take off running. But at the very last-minute he spotted Sidney Rice heading to the corner of the end zone and hit him perfectly for the TD.

All those scrambling plays for 20+ yards the past few weeks made the difference on this play. You can play contain the QB all you want, but Wilson is way too smart to tuck and run when he sees the corners and the safety creep up to try to make the tackle.

Up next for the Hawks is yet another prime time game. The Hawks will try to up their NFL best winning percentage on Monday Night Football against the Rams.

Side note, Rams QB Sam Bradford is out for the season after getting injured Sunday afternoon. Let’s kick ’em when they’re down.

Perhaps it was the star power on the Seahawks sidelines that distracted the players, or maybe even the fact that the Tennessee Titans were using a backup QB.

Whatever the reason ended up being, the Seahawks sure didn’t look like they did the last time we saw them at CenturyLink Field.

Is it just me or does this team seem to be going backwards?

Yes we are 5-1, tops in the NFC record wise, but the past three weeks the Hawks sure haven’t been playing their best ball. We got lucky in Houston, unlucky in Indy, and I don’t even know what to call Sunday.

One thing is for sure, this sloppiness has to be fixed soon, as we have back to back prime time games in front of a national crowd. And to make matters more interesting, both are divisional matchups.

But let’s get to the top 10!

10: Hauschka MIA

Nearing the end of the 1st half, the Hawks had a 4th down opportunity inside the red zone in which Pete Carroll had to make his hardest decision on the year, go for the TD, or kick the easy FG.

But what made this so tricky for coach Carroll is that moments earlier, kicker Steven Hauschka had been walked off the field with a hanky in his nose with concussion like symptoms.

This left punter Jon Ryan as the only kicker left who could attempt the chip shot. Not only had Ryan never attempted a FG before in his career, but the Hawks had to rely on Chris Maragos to be the holder.

9: WTF was that?

Picking up where we left off, the snap came in just fine. Maragos gets the ball and proceeds to put it down awaiting the kick from Ryan.

What happens next will probably baffle us for the rest of our lives. Maragos doesn’t get the hold down, then decides to try to first run, and then throw the ball, instead of laying on it. All this resulted in another blown special teams play for the Seahawks.

8: Sloppy play

Russell Wilson continues to run on teams. (Photo: seattlepi.com)

Besides the aforementioned play, there was another play that was just plain stupid from a veteran player.

Sidney Rice caught a nice pass from Russell Wilson, and then decided to put the ball out away from his body while he was being tackled.

I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish with this move besides giving the ball back to the Titans. This is exactly the type of play that will kill any sort of momentum this team has right now.

7: He’s DangerRuss

I’ve said this the past three weeks, but seriously, is there anything this kid can’t do?

His elusiveness in the pocket when there is danger is something straight out of a Houdini manifest. His speed seems to go from trot to top-speed in the blink of an eye, and his ability to get the extra yard, or five, before terminating the play is better than any QB in the league.

This kid will lead this team to a Super Bowl victory before his days are through.

6: Fitzpatrick gets Sherminated

Saving his best (worst) pass for last, after not throwing anywhere near Richard Sherman all day, Fitz finally decided to go that way in the 4th.

Sherman had excellent coverage, and Fitz should never have even thrown this ball, but he did, and he paid the ultimate price; another pick for Sherman.

5: Just another victim

As I said at the head of this piece, the Seahawks looked mighty sloppy this week for most of the game. But when it comes down to it, wins are ultimately the only thing that matters.

The Hawks added another team to the list of teams that tried, but just couldn’t hang in there to win it, and as the trend continued this week, every team the Seahawks have played this year has gone on to lose its next game.

We don’t just beat ’em, we wear ’em down!

4: Brace for Marshawn

The WTF moment of last week. (Photo: kirotv.com)

Beast Mode continues to outdo his defensive opponents this year, as he tallied two more TDs for the Seahawks on Sunday.

But the best play of the day may have been his catch in the flat that went for far more yards than he should have gotten. But that’s what he does in the open field, he makes people miss tackles.

3: Defense back to its old ways

Although this game was closer than any of us would have like it to be, the defense seemed to be dominant once again.

Giving up the third lowest points against total on the year, it was a lot better performance than the last two weeks on the road.

This unit will have to be on its toes again this week, as they will be going on three fewer days rest plus they will be playing on the road.

2: Familiar face

Former Washington Husky great Jake Locker made his triumphant return to the city that made him a star in college. But it was on the sidelines.

This was a game that a lot of Huskies fans circled on their calendar when the schedule came out. Too bad that we didn’t get the chance to see Locker play. But that’s the way this game works sometimes.

1: Short week ahead

As mentioned above, the Hawks have a short week as they prepare to play the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium on Thursday night.

I, for one, will be in attendance at this game, and I can’t wait to be able to cheer on the boys in real life.

The Cardinals are no push over, and the Seahawks will need to be in top form to walk away with a victory, thank God that this team likes to show off on prime time TV.